Business Climate Task Force
Wednesday, Aug 17 2011

The second meeting of the entire group appointed by Town Council will meet this Friday, August 19, at 11:30. The Business Climate Task Force was formed to explore ways Blacksburg can improve the process for businesses in town and to see where some of the bad press we receive is more rumor than fact.

Kevin Byrd of the New River Planning District is leading this group. For the past few weeks he has met with stakeholders in small groups to solicit their opinions and ideas. These groups include: Town Council, Town Manager and Department Heads, Staff in Building, Engineering, Planning (no dept heads), Business Owners, Development Community, Town/Gown (mostly University) and Residents.

The initial reports I have received, both from town staff and from people who attended the meetings, has been positive. Honest exchanges of concerns and ideas were presented and explored. I appreciate the time spent by many to help us improve our process.

This Friday we will formally review these comments. There will be many ideas and suggestions made – including, I am sure, ways Town Council can help make the process better. We are all ready to listen and move forward.

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Related

8 Responses to Business Climate Task Force

Thanks for the chance to participate the task force. It was fascinating to hear the experiences and suggestions of my fellow small business owners. I left the meeting much more aware of the real issues that are making development difficult for some businesses as well as a good idea of what is making the perception: reality.

I think everyone in my group left with a sense of optimism that we can develop good approaches to deal with both aspects.

Blacksburg seems to make little effort to bring in businesses that lower income earners, and students can actually afford. If a person living in Blacksburg needs to buy socks or underwear they must drive to Christiansburg to purchase these items. The majority of people living in Blacksburg cannot buy socks from Jos. A Banks. If the long term goal of town council and the planning commission is to force lower income earners to buy outside of Blacksburg then that needs to be said, otherwise an honest and open attempt needs to be made to bring in more businesses that can cater to a economically diverse town.

Mayor, it looks like your task force is overloaded with politicians and bureaucrats, the very folks who have earned the towns very real reputation for being business unfriendly in the first place. I hope you all can take open your minds to what the business community has been trying to tell you. Or you will just end up dishing out more self serving platitudes.

I would have to agree with Tom. Maybe not as bluntly. It would be nice to maybe get some input from people who tried to open a business in Blacksburg but could not and moved to another locality. But kudos to the Town for trying to do something!

Tom, why do you say the task force is overloaded with “politicians and bureaucrats?” When asking participants to the focus groups that involved the community, great effort was taken to include in that list those who have had concerns or been critical in the past in the past.

Just who is on this task force is something of a mystery since the town web site under “Council Appointed Task Forces” does not even list it as existing. Your list of parties that had been met started with Town Council, Town Manager and Department Heads… and so on. I just struck me that list seemed hierarchical and loaded towards politicians and bureaucrats. That would be consistent with other Council appointed task forces I have observed. And as for the other stakeholders that were contacted, who were these people and how were they chosen? There has been no public notice that this was going on that I have seen. Is it too presumptuous to assume that the usual sycophants were queried?

Tom, Sorry you missed it under directory – but yes it is listed! The following is the charge that was given to this task force. It can be found on the page that lists the members.

The Business Climate Task Force shall study, define, and recommend to Town Council improvements to process,
programs, and practices to improve the business climate of the Town. Recommendations shall ensure the continued
protection of the health, safety, and welfare of current and future citizens of Blacksburg.

Here are the members: Gail Billingsly – Former director of the Y at Virginia Tech and involved in a remodel on North Main Street
Sue Drzal – Former Directory of Downtown Blacksburg Inc involved in retrofits for older structures
Van Coble – Virginia Tech involved in working with Planning on projects in town
Kristi Snyder – Day Care Owner and Operator also involved in working with the town on a Conditional Use Permit and new Building permits
Rick Disalvo – Draper Aden Associates. Involved with many projects across the Commonwealth, including Blacksburg
Tom Koontz – Local Architect involved in many Blacksburg projects
Sandy Cupp Davis – Local Business Owner
Bob Pack – Local Developer
Andy Kassoff – Local Business Owner and Planning Commission Member
Chief Kim Crannis – Blacksburg Police Chief
Susan Anderson, Vice Mayor and Ron Rordam Mayor
Stuart Lynde – Representing the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce
Sherwood Wilson – Virginia Tech and also involved with many projects in town

Hope this helps clarify the membership of this group. A concerted effort was made to include many different ideas and experiences.

Thank you Mayor for that information. I went to the town’s web site and see nothing called “directory”either as a main header or on any of the pop down menus. So I used the search feature to find “Directory”. The result: Nothing found. I will take your word that this can be found somewhere on there, by someone who has nothing better to do than search, and search and search. It is still not listed amongst the other “Council Appointed Task Forces” under Government and then under Town Council.

Some might say your task force is made up of the “favored few”. I hope that is a concept with which you are familiar.

In your post you wrote, “The Business Climate Task Force was formed to explore ways Blacksburg can improve the process for businesses in town and to see where some of the bad press we receive is more rumor than fact.”

Is one of your major goals to debunk the widely held view that the town is unfriendly to business, regardless of if that might just be true? Maybe there is abundant smoke but no fire, eh.